Review: What Lies in Darkness (Jess Lambert, #2) by Christina McDonald

                                                    

Print Length: 343 pages

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (July 16, 2024)

From Goodreads.com:  Late Christmas Eve, the Harper family’s car crashed on a desolate stretch outside Black Lake. Sixteen-year-old Alice was found injured by the side of the road—alone. It was as if her parents and younger sister, Ella, had simply disappeared.

One year later, Alice is still dealing with nightmares and unanswered questions when she and her friends find Ella’s bloodstained backpack in the basement of an abandoned home. As Detective Jess Lambert investigates, she uncovers dark secrets that put her on a collision course with her past. Jess’s only witness is haunted by her own ghosts—ghosts that might ultimately be connected to Jess.

Jess will do anything to find out what happened to the Harpers—no matter how deep she has to dig. Because neither the living nor the dead are giving up their secrets easily.

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

To begin with, I did not realize that this was book number two in a series until I went to publish my review. This one can easily be read as a stand alone without the reader feeling as though they are missing anything either in relation to Jess and her "abilities", or anything that happened in the first book. 

On the whole, I enjoyed this story and the various twists and turns that it took. I found the story engaging (in fact, I read it in one day unable to resist seeing what came next), and the characters for all of their flaws, interesting. Jess and Alice especially came across as complex and multi-faceted characters which made them and their stories all the more compelling for me. I was also intrigued by the way each of our two main characters (and a few of the background characters) handled their grief, as well as the thought of moving on. 

However, I did have a couple of issues with this one. To begin with the paranormal aspect of it really took me out of the story. In general, I think it would have been just as strong of a story without it (if not stronger as I know some readers who absolutely abhor anything paranormal related in their police procedural type novels). If anything, I would have kept it to one or the other of the characters, not both of them (especially with the way it was explained away for one of them). 

The second issue I had with this one was the final twist at the end. Sure it was one of those that takes the reader off-guard, but it was really just implausible in the grand scheme of things. After all, the police are going to be pretty confused when certain details come out, and Alice will once again be left with questions she can't answer. 

I think I will give at least one more book in this series a chance however, because I am curious after the revelations Jess had in this one, how that will impact her character moving forward. 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.